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Default May 02, 2021 at 03:14 PM
  #1
When I google "mental health forum" or "mental illness forum" My Support Forums is not even listed on the first page. Isn't that a problem, as far as people finding this site?

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Confused May 02, 2021 at 06:14 PM
  #2
I searched "mental health forums" on Bing. And MSF was listed on the first page. However here's what it said: "A forum for discussion of hospitalization and inpatient treatment for mental illness and addiction." When I searched "mental illness forum" the listing for MSF came up in about the middle of page 2. The description was the same.
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Default May 02, 2021 at 09:31 PM
  #3
It takes about a year to build up website credibility at least for google, since this site is new it’s got some time until its number one.

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Default May 03, 2021 at 12:14 PM
  #4
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Originally Posted by Skeezyks View Post
I searched "mental health forums" on Bing. And MSF was listed on the first page. However here's what it said: "A forum for discussion of hospitalization and inpatient treatment for mental illness and addiction." When I searched "mental illness forum" the listing for MSF came up in about the middle of page 2. The description was the same.
Well, that's sure odd.

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Default May 03, 2021 at 12:14 PM
  #5
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It takes about a year to build up website credibility at least for google, since this site is new it’s got some time until its number one.

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Thanks! I didn't know that.

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Default May 05, 2021 at 08:56 AM
  #6
Google is no longer something we feel we can do much about, as they have pushed actual forums out for results that simply link to forums. It makes no sense to me, and it's a mystery why they would prioritize results of LISTS of forums vs an actual support forum.

As for Bing, that's a bit of a mystery. I'll have to delve into where they are getting that description from, because it's not from our forum website itself. Thanks for letting me know!

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Default Jun 13, 2021 at 04:39 AM
  #7
Search engine optimization (SEO) is very important for websites. BethRags, thanks for bringing up the topic last month. I will say that I've seen a handful of new members, lately. Coincidence? Or something else?

I used to work in Marketing. Website optimization was not my direct responsibility, but I learned a bit about it. Certainly if the hosts for the main website could add some more SEO tricks, that would be great. I know a few tricks, but as just a member here (and not an expert), I won't provide ideas. I do utilize them for my own blog, with some success. Though my blog is a casually maintained one, I do include a linkage to this website (MySupportForum). A few people clicked through over the past four years, and perhaps some other(s) also saw the PsychCentral or MySupportForum address. My blog doesn't make a huge difference, in the scheme of things, but some much bigger fish might.

By the way, I can't help but wonder how many significant mental health support forum websites are out there, nowadays. Obviously there are the mega ones. [I know who they are.] But as for the others...

MySupportForum is kind of semi-alone, in a sense, with some others more ghost towns than this site. I like that this is a closer knit community than the mega sites, and definitely more anonymous than Facebook. I think the close knit quality appeals to some, and not to others.

The main page of MySupportForums neither includes a descriptive tagline nor a reference to "mental health" in the logo. It's only when you look at the forums, themselves, that you even see what kind of support forums this website even has. Support for what?

Nothing I write above is meant to be a criticism. Just thoughts. I care about this community.

Last edited by Soupe du jour; Jun 13, 2021 at 07:58 AM..
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Default Jun 13, 2021 at 11:54 AM
  #8
just my thoughts .... I read somewhere that most search engines now work on this popularity algorythm thing where the more someone searches for something the more that something is selected for their own top of the listing as searches...

example if I want My Support Forums to come up on top then repeatedly search for that. the google stuff that keeps track of my IP address inside my computer will recognize my search result selected and in turn that is what comes to the top of my listing any time I do a search for My Survivor Forums.

Also back in the day when I knew nothing about Psych Central forums now called My Support Forums. it wasnt my first at the top of the listing.

I did what most people do....

I checked out each selection until I found the right fit for me..

my point just because My Support Forums are not listed at the top ...........for everyone....... doing mental problem searches, or specific mental disorder searches does .......not ..............mean they won't find the site...

evidence of that is look at the new member count. and the new members forum, and the welcome to new members then members names tag line...

people are still finding the site by the thousands and millions like before. and people ......are.......... registering for the site by the thousands every day.

the difference is in us already members. at some point it was known that google had us at the top with the "sponsored" listing so of course we have forgotten how most people actually find and register for websites. they dont select based on top of the list. they read the description of all their results then they select the one that they feel is the best fit for them.

theres no need to worry about new people finding the site. site visitor counts, site registered new members count and welcome to the new members and the new members forum is quite active. some of those by the thousands and millions.
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Default Jun 14, 2021 at 05:49 AM
  #9
Hi folks, I appreciate all the ideas and insights you've shared on this topic. Trust me when I say I am well-versed in SEO, having had to incorporate it into running Psych Central for the past 15 years full-time. It's one of the reasons I sold the site, because it is simply too difficult for a small digital publisher to keep up with the changes Google is constantly demanding. If anyone doesn't believe G is a monopoly, I'm happy to dissuade them from that. They are -- they dictate how websites are to be designed and maintained if you want to show up in their results (and they have something of 85-90% of search market, so there's no point in trying to ignore them).

Search is indeed highly personalized to each person doing a search on G. One person's results will not look exactly like another person's (but there will usually be a lot of overlap). Having said that, we have a multitude of SEO tools we use to evaluate and analyze our positions for the various websites I still maintain, and I work every week on trying to get the needle moved.

We'll continue to work on MSF's ranking in G, but it's a process that takes time. Thanks again.

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Default Jun 15, 2021 at 11:27 AM
  #10
I am a SEO professional. This forum ranks #2 for the search term, "psych forums", which receives 700 searches/month. The site no longer is associated with loads of mental health articles as it had been with Psych Central, which could be a reason why it does not rank for the much higher search volume term, mental health forum (which gets 6K searches/month). High quality and relevant content is a top ranking factor, which would impact the site's ability to rank for this more competitive keyword.

The site also does not target the keyword, mental health forum, in the page title tag, and the home page is missing an SEO optimized H1 heading tag, so it will be more difficult to rank for this keyword without either of those elements optimized for SEO.

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Last edited by Have Hope; Jun 15, 2021 at 11:44 AM..
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Default Jun 15, 2021 at 07:59 PM
  #11
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I am a SEO professional. This forum ranks #2 for the search term, "psych forums", which receives 700 searches/month. The site no longer is associated with loads of mental health articles as it had been with Psych Central, which could be a reason why it does not rank for the much higher search volume term, mental health forum (which gets 6K searches/month). High quality and relevant content is a top ranking factor, which would impact the site's ability to rank for this more competitive keyword.

The site also does not target the keyword, mental health forum, in the page title tag, and the home page is missing an SEO optimized H1 heading tag, so it will be more difficult to rank for this keyword without either of those elements optimized for SEO.
um maybe keep in mind theres an actual website forums called Psych Forums which is different than here. a great many of those search results are probably for the other website called psych forums.com.
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Default Jun 16, 2021 at 01:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Have Hope View Post
I am a SEO professional. This forum ranks #2 for the search term, "psych forums", which receives 700 searches/month. The site no longer is associated with loads of mental health articles as it had been with Psych Central, which could be a reason why it does not rank for the much higher search volume term, mental health forum (which gets 6K searches/month). High quality and relevant content is a top ranking factor, which would impact the site's ability to rank for this more competitive keyword.

The site also does not target the keyword, mental health forum, in the page title tag, and the home page is missing an SEO optimized H1 heading tag, so it will be more difficult to rank for this keyword without either of those elements optimized for SEO.
Yes, and these are simple remedies.

Obviously different people use different search terms when looking up things. I'll admit that I would likely never ever use "psych forums" to look for such forums. But that's me. And obviously from your analytics, Have Hope, that's not a whole lot of other people, either. I'm glad you chimed in.

Then there is also "retaining" members and getting new visitors to become more involved at a website, or even post once. And having a good balance of supporters and ones who need support. I see this thread as support. @BethRags, thank you for posting it, even if it doesn't, in the end, make a bit of difference.

"Community Feedback" doesn't always have to be adulation. And constructive feedback can often be a kind gift, not something to be defensive about.

Last edited by Soupe du jour; Jun 16, 2021 at 05:19 AM..
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Default Jun 16, 2021 at 05:49 AM
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um maybe keep in mind theres an actual website forums called Psych Forums which is different than here. a great many of those search results are probably for the other website called psych forums.com.
Yes, you are correct, and now I can see that. Even though the top result receives most those visits, a portion will go to My Support forums, as a competitor of that site. But you're right... probably not many since the intent is to find Psych Forums.

And Google will only rank at most two links from the same website in the search results. This is due to an algorithm change they made a few years back.

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Last edited by Have Hope; Jun 16, 2021 at 06:21 AM..
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Default Jun 16, 2021 at 06:13 AM
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Yes, and these are simple remedies.

Obviously different people use different search terms when looking up things. I'll admit that I would likely never ever use "psych forums" to look for such forums. But that's me. And obviously from your analytics, Have Hope, that's not a whole lot of other people, either. I'm glad you chimed in.
The page name and heading can easily be changed, yes, but adding high quality, in depth articles and content that will help the site to rank for "mental health forum" is a much longer-term strategy that would take time.

The site does rank #8 for "mental health forum usa" which only gets 30 searches/,month, so that doesn't help.

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Default Jun 23, 2021 at 06:49 PM
  #15
I'm going to ask a dumb sounding question.... Why does it matter where MSF shows up in a Google search? People are finding the forums, joining and posting. What would be the benefit, and who would it benefit, if MSF ranked higher on google?
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I'm going to ask a dumb sounding question.... Why does it matter where MSF shows up in a Google search? People are finding the forums, joining and posting. What would be the benefit, and who would it benefit, if MSF ranked higher on google?
I think the idea is that research shows most people never scroll back beyond the first page when they're searching for something on Google or Bing. So if MSF is showing up on page 2 or 3 or perhaps even farther back, many people who are searching for mental health support will not see it. I don't know if that's accurate or if it even matters. But that's my uneducated assumption as to why it would matter... for what it's worth. Perhaps another member who is more knowledgeable can provide a more authoritative reply.
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Default Jun 24, 2021 at 05:21 PM
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Thanks Skeezyks.
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Default Jun 25, 2021 at 01:40 PM
  #18
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I think the idea is that research shows most people never scroll back beyond the first page when they're searching for something on Google or Bing. So if MSF is showing up on page 2 or 3 or perhaps even farther back, many people who are searching for mental health support will not see it. I don't know if that's accurate or if it even matters. But that's my uneducated assumption as to why it would matter... for what it's worth. Perhaps another member who is more knowledgeable can provide a more authoritative reply.
This is correct. Even if you rank on page 1, the number of clicks you get significantly decreases with every position decrease. So a #9 ranking on page 1 receives minimal clicks in comparison to rankings #1-3. The top advertisements and the #1 result get most the clicks. Many people don't click beyond the # 3 result. So, yes it would matter with a high volume search term such as mental health forum, which receives 6,000 searches per month. If this site could rank high, the volume of members and visitors could increase that much more.

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